Apparatus for playing election game



M. A. MaCLEOD May 9, 1967 APPARATUS FOR PLAYING ELECTION GAME 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed June 2, 1964 @@@QIBEJEWQ OPVQM QW INVENTOR MALCOLM A. MAC EOD Zr/Z WW1): l ATTQRNEYS May 9, 1967 M. A. MaGLEoD Sm APPARATUS FOR PLAYING ELECTION GAME Filed June 2, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ALA. ALAsm Aasz. ARK. cm.. BAU-07' F0/.l-

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. i ALABAMA INVENTOR MAL COL/ M A. MACLEOD ATToRNEYg United `States Patent() 3,318,601 APPARATUS FOR PLAYING ELECTION GAME lvlalcolm A. MacLeod, 552 Winchester St., Warrenton, Va. 22186 Filed June 2, 1964, Ser. No. 371,985 8 Claims. '(Cl. 273-134) This invention relates to an improved game apparatus and particularly to game apparatus for a type of game which simulates an election for the President and Vice President of the United States. Patents No. 1,907,255 of May 2, 1933, to Herman Ferrari, Ir., and No. 1,616,- 216 of February l, 1927, to Irving L. Dempsey, are prior art examples of similar game apparatus. However, while such prior art is instructive on the electroal college system, there is no correlation between elections simulated by such apparatus and actual elections in the sense that there is no provision for a nexus between the probabilities of how the vote of any given State will be registered in the game and the probabilities of how such States vote will register in the national election, based upon past experience.

It is thus an object of this invention to provide apparatus by which a game may be played which is ininstructive in that the players are reminded of the number of the electoral votes for each State and at the sarne time carry with it the excitement of election returns which tend, at least to some degree, to be correlated with actual expected election returns based upon past presidential elections.

It is a further object of this invention to provide apparatus to simulate a presidential election wherein the States are so grouped that, in accordance with the probabilities of the play, States considered more or less identied with one or the other of the major political parties for the purposes of a presidential election are likely to be credited to the players taking the side of the political party involved.

It is yet a further yobject of this invention to provide apparatus for a game wherein pieces are moved by each side initially on different spaces having dierent average values and so placed that one side will have available to it winning strategies not similarly available to its opponent.

rIhe invention is illustrated in preferredembodiments in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the game board which constitutes part yof the invention;

FIGURE 2 shows a sample playing card with indicia specifically for the State of Alabama;

FIGURE 3 shows the indicia which appear on each playing card for each State and the District of Columbia;

FIGURES 4 and 5 illustrate playing pieces which may be used to represent the major political parties;

FIGURE 6 shows a pair of dice which constitute a part of the invention;

FIGURE 7 is a perspective View of a marker which is part of the invention; and

FIGURE S shows a scorekeepingV card which may be provided with the invention.

The game board 10 which is made of any suitable material is provided with a map 11 of the United States, including the Hawaiian Islands 12 and Alaska 14. Surrounding the map 11 are spaces 15, each of which contains a further map 16 of each voting jurisdiction in the electoral college, such as a map of New Hampshire, for example, and the name or initials of one of the States or the District of Columbia, thus providing 51 spaces in all which are distributed in an endless sequence about the edge of the Iboard 10. A starting point 17 which is denoted Convention Hall on the board, but for which any other suitable term may be employed, is located adjacent two of the spaces for the states, New York and California. Also provided on the board 10 are a pair of arrows 20 and 21 to indicate the direction the pieces are to move. The pieces comprise small iigures of a donkey 22 and an elephant 24. Moves in the game are governed by a suitable random means to produce numbers corresponding to the number `ot" spaces the pieces 22 and 24 move in accordance with the rules of the game comprising a pair of dice 25. Markers 26 more or less in the form of a ballot box are provided for the purpose of showing the votes of those States which have been taken by one or another of the players. A deck of 51 cards is provided, each card 27 having on one side the name of the State and the number of electoral votes of such State, as shown in FIGURES 2 and 3. The other side of each of the cards is similar in design to every other card so that when the cards are face down it is impossible to determine the indicia on the other side. A tally card 30 may also be provided for keeping score, although this may be accomplished on any sheet of paper or the like. The directions accompanying the apparatus should also include the indicia 31 of electroal votes for each State, as shown in FIGURE 3, in a convenient form so that the players will have a ready reterence to determine the number of electoral votes for each State. It will be understood that this also may be set forth on the board 10 or in any other suitable manner.

It will be noted that the board 10 also has a space 32 which is called Undecided States for purposes which will subsequently be described in the play of the game.

The game is played by two sides. Each side takes its choice whether to be either the Democratic or Republican Party candidates running for President or Vice President of the United States, such parties being currently the major political parties of this country from at least a numerical standpoint. Since the game is based on our present electroal system in which there are 538 electors, the rst side to obtain a majority of the electoral votes is the victor.

From the disclosure of the apparatus, a number of variations of play of the game Will occur to one skilled in the art. However, with no intention to limit the scope of the invention beyond those set forth in the claims and equivalents thereof, two methods of play will be described.

In the rst method, the cards 27 are shuled, and 24 of the cards are dealt face down to each side with the remaining three cards placed face down on the box 32. The dice 25 are then rolled by each side to determine which will move llirst, with the side having the highest roll starting iirst. The dice are then rolled in turn and each side moves its respective piece 22 or 24 with the piece 22 representing the Democratic Party going to the left as indicated by arrow 20 and the piece 24 representing the Republican Party moving to the right indicated by the arrow 21. A piece is moved in the direction indicated the number of spaces that appears on the dice. When the piece lands on a space in accordance with the throw of the dice, that side then checks to see if it has the State in which the pieces has landed (the District of Columbia being also considered a State for this purpose). If so, that side then removes such card from its hand, marks such State on its tally card 30 and places a marker 26 on the space to show that it has been taken. However, if such side does not have the State indicated on the space in its hand, its piece merely remains on the space until the next time it rolls the dice. A number of markers 26 are provided so that each side may appropriately mark the States which it has taken. These markers may be differentiated by suitable indicia such as color. For example, the color red might be used by the side having the piece 22 whereas side, whatever State is landed upon rnay be taken irrespective of which side holds the card, and such side may immediately roll again. However, it may not be taken in the event that it has already been taken or if neither side holds the card-in which case the card is, of course, in the box 32. Also, each time a side passes the starting point 17, that is, past the space with California for the Democratic candidates or past the space marked New York for the Republican candidates, it is given a free roll and may take whatever State it subsequently lands upon, if it is not already taken or the card is in box 32, irrespective of which side has the card. When either side receives a total of States, it may draw the top card from the box 32 and add same to its hand. Also, the first side to receive l5 States may add the top card from the box 32 to its hand.

The rst side to receive a majority of the votes, that is, 270 votes, wins the game. Prom an inspection of the board, it will be appreciated that the States which in the last election or the last several elections have tended to vote for the Republican presidential candidate are grouped to the right of card 10, whereas those States which have tended to vote Democratic are grouped to the left. Accordingly, there will be a tendency for the side representing the Republican party to pick up more of its votes from States which would normally be expected to register their vote for the Republican candidates, whereas there is a like tendency for the Democratic side to pick up States which more probably would register their votes for the Democratic candidates. Moreover, the States have been so located by reason of the number of electoral votes that the States which are picked up by the additional throw after passing the starting point 17 will tend to average the Y same number of electoral votes for either side.

It will be understood that a game played in such manner is entirely dependent on the distribution of the cards when they are dealt and placed in box 32, and upon the throw of the dice. However, a second method of playing the game with the apparatus illustrated and described gives an interesting example of how an element of strategy may be introduced into the game which in some ways is not unlike that which may occur in actual elections.

In the second method, as in the first, there are two sides, one representing the Democratic Party and the other representing the Republican Party. However, instead of a single piece 22 or 24, each side has two like pieces. The side to start the game is determined as before by a roll of the dice for the highest number which appears on the dice. The cards for the States Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Vermont are removed from the deck of cards and given to the side representing the Republican Party. The cards for the States Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Mississippi are removed and given to the side representing the Democratic Party. The remaining cards are then shuffled and three cards are dealt to each side so that neither side will know what three cards the other side has, with the remaining cards being placed in the space 32 or otherwise set aside since they will not again be used in the game. Each time the dice are thrown for a side, such side may move either of its pieces the total number of spaces shown on the dice. The sides alternate unless a side rolls doubles, in which case it gets an extra roll. When a piece lands on a space, unless that space corresponds to a card held by the other side or unless there is already a marker 26 thereon, the space may be taken and its vote recorded on the tally card 30 for the side involved, with an appropriately colored marker 26 being placed on the space. However, if a piece of one side lands on a State of a card held by the other side, upon a showing of such card, the State involved may not be taken unless on the next succeeding throw the other side throws a 2, 3, or 12, in which case the vote of the State involved will be considered as an upset and will be taken by the side having its piece thereupon. Of course, as before, if the State is already taken as indicated by marker 26 thereon, it cannot be taken again by either side.

In the second method, inspection of the board 10 willk disclose that the States on the Democratic side of the board have a higher average electoral vote value than those set forth on the Republican side. However, indicia for States having a significantly higher than average electoral vote on the Democratic side are intentionally bunched near the starting point 17 or opposed thereto in a lower portion of the board. In contrast, on the Republican side, the indicia for States having a larger than average electoral vote, such as Ohio or Pennsylvania, are located in positions where they are more likely toY be picked up by judicious moving of the pieces by the side representing the Republican Party. It will be understood that indicia for the States of Texas and Illinois are in position where it is improbable, although still possible, that they will be picked upthe first time around by the pieces of the Democratic Party. Indicia for the States having the largest electoral votes (California and New York) are located in the rst positions from the starting point where they cannot be picked up the rst time around, since the number 2 is the lowest which can be registered by the dice. t

It will ybe appreciated that the side having the Democratic Party must determine whether it will be to its advantage to keep one piece at the starting point 17, Convention Hall, until a 2 or 3 is thrown in order to pick up Illinois or Texas votes while the other piece continues in random fashion about the board or to bring out both pieces immediately with the idea of picking up as many as possible of the higher average value States on the Democratic side as soon as possible before the side representing the Republican Party has` an opportunity to do so. On the other hand, there is no advantage for the side having the Republican Party to keep one of the pieces at starting point 17, and such side should under normal circumstances attempt to move both of its pieces selectively to pick up the States having substantially higher than the average number of votes as soon as possible or to place one of its pieces in a position wherein it can hope to pick up one of the high-vote-value States appearing `at the top of the board 10. Much depends upon the strategy employed by the other side, and also upon the three cards which are picked up in the shuie. Moreover, the strategy and tactics will often have to be adapted from time to time depending upon the throw of the dice. However, it will -be apparent that, broadly speaking, the strategy of either side will betconcentrated on picking 4up as soon as possible the votes of those States which it does not hold a card for, and of such States, it will prefer those which have a large electoral-vote-value to those which have a smaller electoralvote-Value. To accomplish this, one of the pieces may be maneuvered to a position whereby a likely throw of the dice will bring it on the State desired. In doing this, by necessity the other piece will be required toV move in a more -or less random fashion and thus we see that at times certain States may more or less be ignored in preference to other, Vdepending upon how the pieces arelocated on the board with respect to untaken States. But nevertheless the States for which a side has a card cannot Ebe ignored, since upset in one or several of these might spell the difference between defeat and victory.

It will be understood that because of the particular manner in which States have been laid out on the board 10, each side will be presented with inherently different strategy problems.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearances of understanding only, and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, for modications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. Game apparatus comprising a game board having an endless series of at least fifty-one outlined spaces with a United States jurisdiction having electoral college votes indicated in each of said spaces, a starting point being provided adjacent said series of spaces, the spaces proceeding in sequence in one direction from said starting point having indicated thereon jurisdictions having a greater number of average electoral votes than those indicated on the spaces proceeding in sequence in the other direction from said starting point, the rst space following in both directions from said starting point containing indicia of the two jurisdictions having the highest number of electoral votes, the arrangement of Spaces being such that a player returning to the spaces adjacent his starting point after traversing the series may move on to the aforesaid high-value space of his opponent, at least two distinctive playing pieces, each of said playing pieces indicating a major political party, a plurality of cards, each of said cards designating a jurisdiction having electoral college votes with the number of electoral college votes corresponding to said jurisdiction indicated thereon, chance means including random number producing means incapable of indicating a number less than two and operable to present integral numbers selectively at random to indicate movement of said playing pieces on said series of spaces, said random means comprising a pair of dice, and a plurality ofv markers to place on said spaces to indicate that the electoral votes thereon have been won by one or the other of the players.

2. Game apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein there are also provided scorekeeping means.

3. Game apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein direction indicating means are included denoting that in the play of the game said pieces are moved in opposite directions.

4. Game apparatus in accordance with claim 3, wherein said random means randomly provides integral numibers within the series of 2 through l2 with probability of numbers occurring intermediate in said series being greater than the probability of numbers occurring near either end of said series of numbers.

5. Game apparatus in accordance with claim 4, wherein most of said rst mentioned spaces represent jurisdictions which have voted for candidates of one major political party in recent past national presidential elections while the second mentioned spaces represent jurisdictions which mostly have voted for the candidates of the other major political party in recent national presidential elections.

6. Game apparatus in accordance with claim 3, wherein the second space in sequence from said starting point on the side having the higher average number of electoral votes has indicated therein a jurisdiction having at least double the average number of electoral votes of all-of said jurisdictions.

7. Game apparatus in accordance with claim 6, wherein the third space in sequence from said starting point on the side having the higher average number of electoral votes has indicated therein a jurisdiction having at least double the average number of electoral votes of al1 of said jurisdictions.

8. Game apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein said board has represented thereon a map of the United States and the indications comprise a map of one of said jurisdictions on each of said spaces.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS DELBERT B. LOWE, Primary Examiner. 

1. GAME APPARATUS COMPRISING A GAME BOARD HAVING AN ENDLESS SERIES OF AT LEAST FIFTY-ONE OUTLINED SPACES WITH A UNITED STATES JURISDICTION HAVING ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTES INDICATED IN EACH OF SAID SPACES, A STARTING POINT BEING PROVIDED ADJACENT SAID SERIES OF SPACES, THE SPACES PROCEEDING IN SEQUENCE IN ONE DIRECTION FROM SAID STARTING POINT HAVING INDICATED THEREON JURISDICTIONS HAVING A GREATER NUMBER OF AVERAGE ELECTROAL VOTES THAN THOSE INDICATED ON THE SPACES PROCEEDING IN SEQUENCE IN THE OTHER DIRECTION FROM SAID STARTING POINT, THE FIRST SPACE FOLLOWING IN BOTH DIRECTIONS FROM SAID STARTING POINT CONTAINING INDICIA OF THE TWO JURISDICTIONS HAVING THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF ELECTORAL VOTES, THE ARRANGEMENT OF SPACES BEING SUCH THAT A PLAYER RETURNING TO THE SPACES ADJACENT HIS STARTING POINT AFTER TRAVERSING THE SERIES MAY MOVE ON TO THE AFORESAID HIGH-VALUE SPACE OF HIS OPPONENT, AT LEAST TWO DISTINCTIVE PLAYING PIECES, EACH OF SAID PLAYING PIECES INDICATING A MAJOR POLITICAL PARTY, A PLURALITY OF CARDS, EACH OF SAID CARDS DESIGNATING A JURISDICTION HAVING ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTES WITH THE NUMBER OF ELECTROAL COLLEGE VOTES CORRESPONDING TO SAID JURISDICTION INDICATED THEREON, CHANCE MEANS INCLUDING RANDOM NUMBER PRODUCING MEANS INCAPABLE OF INDICATING A NUMBER LESS THAN TWO AND OPERABLE TO PRESENT INTEGRAL NUMBERS SELECTIVELY AT RANDOM TO INDICATE MOVEMENT OF SAID PLAYING PIECES ON SAID SERIES OF SPACES, SAID RANDOM MEANS COMPRISING A PAIR OF DICE, AND A PLURALITY OF MARKERS TO PLACE ON SAID SPACES TO INDICATE THAT THE ELECTORAL VOTES THEREON HAVE BEEN WON BY ONE OR THE OTHER OF THE PLAYERS. 